Seeking Balance in My Freelancing Life: My Ketogenic Experiences

This post has been nagging at me this morning, so let me get this down and uploaded so I can get to work.

As a freelancer, I just paid the IRS my balance due on my 2017 taxes today and yesterday my first quarter 2018 taxes. I have a huge smile on my face at this quite grand accomplishment. It was a big chunk of money (for me), but that just means I had a good 2017 year and seem to be repeating it this year. I'll be better prepared when I do my 2018 taxes next April. Thank you to all my wonderful authors who I am honored to work with year in and year out.

Another part of my freelancing life involves much time spent seated before my computer. I'm sure you've heard that sitting is the new smoking. But I've also heard that good health is more about the meals than the treadmill. I hope so since I haven't exercised in ... forever. Unless you count weekly forays into my yard (the mowing, the weeding, the tree trimming, etc.). Here in the DFW area of Texas, I can mow ten months out of the year. Love being outside in my yard.

Yet I tend to be a workaholic. Gross understatement here!

ANYWAY, this year my focus has been more about balance. While I still work every day of the calendar year (yes, holidays, weekends, my birthday, etc.) whenever I have projects in my queue, I've always been good about having some downtime afterward. This year I'm eating better with an eye toward hitting those hiking and biking trails in my area. Haven't done the hiking trails yet, but it is spring now, and weather.com has taken out all those rain days in our local forecast. So there's hope I'll get to that too. Can't wait.

In the meantime I've been on a keto lifestyle plan since 12.05.2017. DISCLAIMER: I am no fitness expert. These are my individual findings, as you will surely experience your own. Keep a daily food journal. Maybe you can see patterns that will help you better tailor any plan to your body and your life.

Here are some random thoughts from my experience:

1. I've had MONTHS where I was stalled (per the scale) but continued to lose inches (per the measuring tape), so if you are currently there too, don't despair.
2. Note: I weigh daily (and try to not get discouraged). I do wish my scale gave me my body fat numbers. Oh, well. I measure monthly.
3. With the carb-cycling element in play in some keto diets (and seems to be favored for women with their particular hormone mix), I never feel like I failed at any time to follow the keto "diet." That's a huge plus because I'm not entertaining negative thoughts that could derail my progress. Any success begets more success, right?
4. Don't ever get a hysterectomy. I never had a weight problem until about ten years afterward. And the change in hormones doesn't help with losing the pounds. Listen to me here.
5. This isn't a diet to me. It's an eating plan. A true lifestyle. One I feel I can easily follow for the rest of my life. And have been for the last four months. Successfully through Christmas, Valentine's Day and now Easter. Wow.
6. I started out strict (25 carbs or less daily; I even had one day where I had 0 carbs!). However, I've found I don't need to be that strict every day to still lose weight/inches.
7. For me, I seem to lose weight/inches when I stay around 35 to 50/60 carbs a day.
8. I was a major sugarholic, have been my whole life, yet I'm getting by with Stevia. Watch out for any Stevia sugar substitutes that may have 0 calories but HAVE CARBS.
9. I am not eating fruits, and I am missing them at times. But, with my restricted carb limit, I find I'm spending my carbs on my homemade sweet cream cold brew (recipe coming up in next post) and veggies. I love a basic fajita combo of sauteed bell peppers and onions (added to eggs, chicken, beef), but those have carbs, folks! Even the red bell pepper has more carbs than the green. So sign up to MyFitnessPal.com or check carb counts online for EVERYTHING you eat.
10. Same thing goes for checking labels. My local Aldi's (with their own brands) has condiments and sauces that are much lower in carbs than can be found among the selections available at my local box store. It's great because these are Aldi's everyday brands (not their organic line), and they are less expensive to boot.
11. As a very general rule, you can have an abundance of green foods (leafy greens for a salad or sauteed, plus green beans) without running up much of a carb count. It's those colorful veggies that have carbs. Watch out for them. Be diligent in counting your carbs.
12. I was a major carboholic too, have been my whole life, yet I'm easily controlling them. Never thought I'd say that. It's like the daily addiction has been cured. I do indulge when the craving sinks in deep and nags at me (which is occasionally). Hey, I'm a Deep South gal. Food is my life. Ha!
13. Just to clarify, I don't believe in counting calories. Look at anybody on a high-fat diet who is losing (or has lost) weight to confirm that. Immediately I think of Dave Asprey, Bulletproof CEO and guru. Plus there is the whole element of "bad v. good" calories, just like "bad v. good" carbs/fats/proteins. Keep that in mind too.
14. I can have pasta, rice, grits, french fries, soft pretzels and the like on this plan. I just must be selective and parse those out. Any of those options are about 40 carbs for 1 cup. But don't go by my rough estimate here. Look it up to confirm. But that's what I have in my head all the time when I'm thinking about what I can eat in one day without going over the 50-carb to 60-carb mark. You'll learn what your favored foods end up being and how to integrate them occasionally into your life too.
15. I thought I was a major sugarholic. Yet my cravings/splurges are more related to savory carbs. Surprising.
16. And then my mind jumped to ice cream. If you haven't tried Halo Top ice cream, you're in for a treat. One-half cup of the Vanilla Bean flavor is 11 net carbs. You're welcome.
17. I find I have better results when I skip breakfast. Almost every single day. I know. I know. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Yeah, I've heard that too. But have you seen the more recent findings about how you can eat the same number of calories in one six-hour period instead of one sixteen-hour period and yet lose weight? It's minifasting. Do some online research and decide for yourself. This is the only kind of fasting I seem able to do.
18. Now, if I'm hungry when I wake up, I eat. Usually scrambled eggs (cooked in lard/bacon fat/olive oil/butter/noncoconuty-smelling coconut oil) with green onions and cheddar cheese and a fresh chopped tomato slice added at the last minute or fried yellow/purple/white onions on the side (like a hash-brown substitute). Or I'll eat a whole avocado and nothing else. Although I do like my scrambled eggs with avocado too. Yum. The point is, if you can't talk your body out of being hungry by distracting it for the next few minutes to an hour later, feed it! Try to offer it something that is on the better end of the food spectrum, if you can.
19. So I normally eat two meals a day. I eat when I'm hungry. I usually push it to when I'm really hungry (like my first meal may be at 2:00 p.m. or later, and my second and last meal may be at 6:00 or 7:00 p.m.). I may eat the same two meals if I made a big roast in my slow cooker. Or I may eat the roast and roasted veggies (onions, bell peppers, carrots, NOT potatoes) for one meal and a big plateful of salad for the other (substituting any croutons for sunflower seeds). I go by what my body wants. Our bodies are pretty smart when we don't interfere with their normal processes.
20. I start my day with coffee. While I love a Bulletproof coffee with added Brain Octane Oil and grass-fed butter, sometimes I opt for fresh-brewed hot coffee with cream in the wintertime. I'm known to drink sweet cream cold brew all throughout the year. Sometimes I need lemon water and will go through gallons of it in one week. Other times I want lemonade with Stevia.
21. I prefer a dribble or two of heavy whipping cream in my hot coffee, but I thought maybe my keto plateau was due to that (even with an organic cream), so I switched to half-and-half, which I like a lot too. Remember though, the heavy cream has no carbs while the half-and-half has 1 carb per 2 tablespoons. Yet I started losing weight again. Go figure.
22.  I had a thought earlier this week that I should add more good fats to my meals. Get more Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil. I'll record what happens with that and share it later.
23. Today my interest is piqued about BHB (keto salts). I'll let you know if I go that route and what happened for me.

Okay, that's it for now. Feel free to share any words of wisdom with me regarding the keto lifestyle.

Have a good one!

Denise Barker

A Freelancing Foodie's Tips

DISCLAIMER: I'm not a medical authority, just a layperson interested in bolstering my health by holistic methods, someone who believes that good fats don't make you fat. Too much sugar (in its various forms) makes you fat. That it's not about calories. It's about good carbs, eating clean.

I almost entitled this post Foodie Friday. I'm not sure I have that much new to say on a weekly basis. I'll have to see how this works out. This year I'm working fewer hours (no more >230-hour months for me!) for better pay (after 2.5 years at the same rate, now more in line with industry standards for someone like me with 8.5 years' experience) and plan to have more blogging time. More "me" time too for my own writing. In other words, I get to do all that I love being: an author, a blogger, a copy editor. Of course I also love reading good books and watching great movies. More of that too please!

As a freelancer, my income is not a steady paycheck of a set repetitive amount coming like clockwork on the first and the fifteenth (or any two other random days of the month), as I am paid per project. So the fluctuating earnings make for lean and fat times monetarily. I would love to eat clean, only organic, but that ain't happening yet. So what to do in the interim?

First, if not a vegetarian, buy whole meats, like whole hams, whole beef or pork roasts, whole chickens, briskets, etc. Yes, the animals will probably still have been fed grain and GMO corn instead of grass and pumped up on chemical-based hormones, but at least you can avoid the added hormones and fillers. I look for meats at $0.89/lb. One exception is seafood, which I love but costs more per pound, yet you'd be amazed how some canned seafood is wild caught, which is the best kind.

Yesterday I bought a six-pound chicken that, with the veggies, wouldn't allow the lid on my slow cooker to seat properly. I used foil instead, until the potatoes, onions and carrots cooked down. Then I exchanged it for my lid. (Be sure to check the internal temp of your chicken and other meats.) This will be two meals for two as is, roast chicken and veggies. After that, it can be chicken spaghetti (to use up the dark meat, not my favorite), chicken and dressing, tortilla soup, quesadillas, even chicken salad sandwiches. I expect to get about ten to twelve individual servings from this bird.

And I buy most of my food at Aldi's, which is like a Sam's Club but without the annual fees. Love my Aldi's, which I find is even cheaper than my local Walmart (but I still shop there for various things). Also my Sprouts store is great and, if you watch the weekly sales, sometimes rivals Aldi's low prices.

Whether flush or in need, I still like to have a veggie-only meal at least once a week, usually a trio of cooked ones in the winter. And when summer returns, I love a good meatless taco salad, marinated cukes and onions, marinated three-bean salad, Caesar salads, wilted lettuce, even a meal of coleslaw, etc.

Second, certain foods show up on various "lists," whether you need more calcium in your diet or are fighting a family trait for Alzheimer's or want to prevent the three major diseases of cancer, heart attacks/strokes, diabetes. Some of these wondrous foods that come to mind are onions, garlic, avocados, coconut and olive oils, dark leafy greens (fresh or sauteed), berries, ginger, turmeric, honey, green tea, etc. Even on a restricted budget, I try to incorporate a handful of these each day.

One example would be skillet-frying onions in olive oil for breakfast instead of hash browns. Add some garlic at the end, then cook your scrambled eggs in the same skillet. Plate all these hot elements on top of fresh spinach to wilt it, with a side of sliced tomato and avocado, and a small serving of berries and ginger-flavored green tea with honey. Perfect. I've used everything but the turmeric listed above, and this is only breakfast. Not a bad start to a day. Granted, some days it's only eggs or buttered noodles around here and not just for one meal that day.

Third, sugar is fed to cancer cells in the lab to get them growing. Sugar has been proven to be addicting, even more so than cocaine (per Dr. Mark Hyman). So I'm trying to swap whole fruits for baked goodies. But, when I do have brownies, I make them at home, so at least I know what went into them (like no MSG, no HFCS, no GMO corn oil, etc.). Besides, 70% chocolate is good for us. Still do not go overboard on fruits as even they can affect diabetes (see Suzanne Somers's remarks regarding her hubby eating like ten pieces of fruit a day and having to cut way back).

Besides cutting down on eating sugar, watch out for drinking it. I love Dr. Pepper (I live in Texas after all), those flavored creams for my coffee, sweet tea (I'm from the Deep South), lemonade, etc. Thankfully I don't like the taste of alcohol, as it converts to sugar too from what I understand. But sugar is also hidden in most of our condiments.  I don't use ketchup, but check your label on your store-bought version. I'd suggest you make your own.

I even (unknowingly) bought salt with sugar in it. Come on! I have to check the ingredients list for SALT? When I complained to the store, they directed me to the manufacturer, which a representative said the sugar was "just corn" (GMO variety, I'd bet) and was a preservative. My salt, which is already a preservative, needs a sugar preservative? I wonder if these people ever stop to really listen to what they've been groomed to say. If I want sugar, I'll buy it and hope it is not tainted with whatever. I've been in a sugar cane field and have tasted that wonderful delight, standing on Louisiana soil in the sunlight, surrounded by stalks taller than me. What an experience. Would love to taste that pure sugar again.

I don't understand why we continue to have corn subsidies when there seems to be so much corn that it is mostly made into animal feed and HFCS, which is not healthy for man or beast from what I'm reading. I do indulge in my craving for "fresh" corn on the cob with butter and salt, but I limit that "treat" to about once a year. Until I can buy organic ears of corn, it's the best I can do to just avoid these problematic foods.

Fourth, eat food without an ingredients label (meat, veggies, fruits), found on the perimeter of your local grocery store. Old news but still valid good news. Also use a vinegar wash/soak to clean the outside of your produce/fruits. You can't wash/soak away what the plant absorbed through tainted soil, but you can at least reduce the toxins on the outside.

Fifth, watch those "white" carbs, anything made with white flours, white sugars, white potatoes, white rice, etc. I will confess that I resort to white bread, white rice, white potatoes, bagels, tortillas when I'm in my "starving artist" phases. You do what you gotta do.

Sixth, don't feel guilty about the detours you take. As mentioned above, I believe in the mind-body connection, where the holistic healing of one influences the other. So don't let worry taint your health too. Somewhere I read that the Bible links all the (thirty-nine?) diseases to various emotions. Interesting, right? I'll have to research that further and see if I can't share some studies on that with you here.

Seventh is think about substitutions. When I crave something salty, instead of chips (which I try not to buy), I eat mixed nuts or a sliced tomato (or avocado) with a sprinkle of sea salt or some black or green olives. If I want something sweet, I think about what fruit I have in the house and if it would satisfy my desire. Maybe I can get away with ginger tea sweetened with some honey and/or Stevia. Perhaps even a teaspoon of almond butter topped with honey will sate my taste buds.

So start your own substitutions list. I know when I fall off the wagon, invariably immediately thereafter I think of the better substitute I should have eaten. So I'm starting my own reminder list as well.

Eighth is to not eat three hours before bed. I find that hard to implement as I work all hours, all days (which is the nature of the freelancing career), so don't have a set bedtime. It's easier for me to do as Tim Ferriss states: eat two meals a day, although I'm not rigid on this.

Ninth, eat only when truly hungry. Drink some plain water first. Wait fifteen minutes. Try a teaspoon of organic apple cider vinegar (with the mother) in more water. This helps with indigestion and heartburn. If still hungry, eat something but make wise choices.

That's it for now. Here's to a healthier life in 2016.

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

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What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

Servings from 10.55# of Ham Recalculated

I sliced up my 10.55# of ham into eight basically even portions of about 1/2" thick slabs, thinking I'd get approximately two servings from each bag (considering there is more fat and gristle to cut off). But I got more than two servings per bag. Here's what I used the first two bags to create:

5 Cuban Sandwiches (on a rye bread loaf larger than a sandwich loaf, keep in mind)
4 servings of ham, white bean and spinach soup (two servings left, to help with my cold)
2 servings of breakfast ham
More fat (rendered this morning to brown the ham and to cook the eggs)

Plus I simmered the ham bone for about five hours and got six cups of ham broth (mostly gelatin with a layer of fat atop). I already used one cup in the soup mentioned above and will use the rest when making casseroles (instead of canned soups, when called for) or to make a "sausage" gravy to pour over biscuits or to boil pasta in for added flavor.

So I got eleven servings of the ham from two bags (calculated as $1.18 per bag) for a real-life value of $0.22 per serving, with about 5.5 servings per bag.

Even better than I thought!

Now I'm off to work on my Nonfiction #2 Project, which I didn't get to at all yesterday, much less finish and upload, as I slept off whatever malady was attacking me.

Have a good one, y'all.

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

Cuban Sandwich, Anyone?

Today I ran into a steal at my local Aldi's: a bone-in ham shank for $0.89/pound (cheaper than Aldi's bologna for $0.99/pound). It took me more time to slice up my purchase than for my whole marketing trip (travel included). I bought the smallest one they had left. Apparently this sale had been going on since my last visit.

My 10.55# purchase makes for about eight one-gallon freezer bags of what should be more than two servings of ham, with some of the fat removed, that ring in at $1.18 per bag. They are just half full, but it's enough for a cooking session. I froze six and kept two in fridge (and marked them all with their contents and the current date—I'm so proud of myself). I also have an overflowing sandwich baggie full of ham fat to render as needed.

I'm already thinking of adding a piece of ham with red-eye gravy to my standard two-egg breakfast, or maybe cooking some grits instead to top with said ham and gravy, plus one night this week assembling a crustless ham and green onion quiche with cheese just sprinkled on top—I'm rationing cheese. Can you tell?—saving the cooking for the next morning. Yum.

Also I have some leftover rice that I could make into pork-fried rice. Sounds good to me. (It all sounds good to me.) Of course ham and potato casseroles come to mind, but I've got ten pounds of rice in my pantry, so I'm purposely not buying potatoes. I'll scour my recipe banks for something along that line too.

Have my ham bone already simmering with my saved cut ends of onions and celery and other veggies to make a broth that I'll strain to include in a ham and white bean and spinach soup soon. And for lunch today I browsed Yummly (love, love, love that site) for something other than the same old boring ham and cheese sandwich recipe.

I found a great one: the Cuban sandwich, with its amped-up mayo (spread on both sides of the bread) which sports the thinly sliced pickle spear inside, all seared and heated in a hot skillet. Here's the link for the recipe I used: http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Spicy-mexican-_cuban_-sandwiches-304210?columns=4&position=1%2F1.

Of course I made changes to the original recipe based on what I had here. Instead of Italian bread, I used the rye loaf that I found in my freezer (what a great surprise). For the chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, I opted for some deseeded, demembraned jalapenos. With no Swiss cheese in the house, I substituted Monterey Jack, which turned out to be a wonderful mix. And the cilantro? I just happened to pick it up during my morning trip to Aldi's. Talk about serendipity.

All these recipe searches are nagging at me to get to my own cookbook, to get it done. And I may have to work on said Nonfiction Book #4 Project sometime later this month. Fingers crossed.

Enjoy!

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

What I've Learned Recently

I'm in my annual slow period. As a freelance copy editor, working with Indie authors, that means my slow period follows the usual slow period for all of publishing: meaning, not much going on in October, November, December. The preceding months of the year are this mad rush to get books up before Thanksgiving/Christmas. This year my slow period started in September (which is never good, moneywise). But I've been getting to some of my own WIPs. And here's what I've learned about myself:

• I jump around from writing project to project. I have three nonfiction ebooks I'm trying to upload by 11.07.2015.  I got one up already on 10.31.2015. It was my fourth volume of quotations, which I worked on over the last two years and basically just had to make the cover, give it a once-over (as I try to double-check each entry as I type it in) and spell-check the ninety or so pages. Nonfiction Project #2 should be up Wednesday, 11.04.2015, another conglomeration I've created over my years as a copy editor. That leaves me with Nonfiction Project #3, something for all us authors which I'm creating from scratch (after months, years of research) and hope to have up before my self-declared deadline of 11.07.2015. I work on the one my gut leads me to. Yet when working for other authors, I'm more immersed in the copyediting projects I get, so I like to completely finish one before delving in the next. I do them in order of receipt date (and relative deadline date, even if three are all due on the same calendar date but received within hours of each other).
• I jump around with my household projects too. If I feel like working in the yard, I do. Then, after a couple hours, if I decide it's time to clean carpets, I move inside. I've also filled one box with cookbooks I can live without to take to Half-Price Books (it's more about freeing up my bookshelf space than getting any real money for these books). I've got another stash of nonworking electronics to recycle at Best Buy too. I'm motivated to get to lots of stuff during this "downtime" of mine and am pleased with my progress made to date.
• I keep food longer than I should in the freezer. The packages aren't dated either. (I blame working those 234-hour months. It's not that I've got a bad habit of not dating my freezer packages, right?) As I defrost stuff, if it has no taste, I throw it out. And anything I put in the freezer now has a date marked on it. I've also learned that I should cook less initially (so it doesn't get lost in the freezer) and/or to keep a list on the freezer of what I added and the date. It's "easier" to cook one big pot of beans using the whole package than to just cook one-fourth of the package (only 4 to 5 ounces). Or so I thought.
• And I like to stockpile foods, in the freezer and in the pantry. It means "security" to me. Plus I'm planning for this slow period every year. But ... I think I need to stop "hoarding" with such abandon. I've still got (fresh, not expired) meats in the freezer, although I'm doling them out. Plus I have canned goods in the pantry, but my shelves are getting barer than I like. I'm only buying the basics, bread and milk and eggs and such, each week.
• I've figured out a $0.72 one-serving breakfast: two scrambled eggs in some olive oil and a clementine (based on Aldi's current prices here in the DFW area and keeping in mind that lunch at some drive-throughs costs $10).
• If you add four pieces of toast and some jelly to the above to make a bigger one-serving breakfast, it costs $1.15. 
• Even if two people eat as outlined above (one the light version and one the more-food version), two people can eat breakfast for $1.87.
• I can also have a $0.36 lunch: one slice of bologna on one slice of bread (fold it over for a half sandwich) plus one dill pickle spear.
• If you need a bigger single-serving lunch, fix three half-sandwiches and have a pickle for $0.88.
• Presuming two people eat lunch, a woman eating the single half sandwich and a man eating the the three half sandwiches, each with a pickle, the total lunch fare is $1.24.
• For dinner, one quarter package of wide egg noodles with butter costs $0.35 for a pretty hefty single serving. Two could probably eat this for $0.70.
• For three light meals in one day, the total is $1.43, with the heavier meals totaling $2.38, or two people eating as described three meals a day for a total of $3.81. Granted we all need variety and probably could not (or would prefer to not) eat the same thing for thirty straight days, but, if we did, $3.81 x 31 days = $118.11. Something to shoot for when the funds and foods get really depleted.
• And I figured out my preservative-free bacon from Aldi's (with its low price) is $3.99 for 12 ounces but that equates to $5.32 a pound. Can't you buy steak for that? It has been a while since I bought one, of any cut. Needless to say, that is why I'm not buying bacon (or steak) during this slow period.
• It's easier to see what's in my fridge too, when it's not so crammed full of stuff. But that's the price I pay for being crazy busy with work (and getting paid, which is a good thing). At this rate I'll be able to soon clean my whole freezer and refrigerator with minimal fuss in unloading food only to put it back.

Being a freelancer, I can't spend my time worrying. I do what I can. Right now I'm giving myself the luxury of this one week to work on my stuff for a change. I'm hoping to upload three ebooks within ten days' time. I'm anxious to see what, if anything, Amazon's algorithms do with something like this.

Then, if none of my submissions pan out to get additional copy edit jobs, I'll seek a temporary day job. I've done it twice before in these last seven years of freelancing, working outside the home for a combined two years and nine months, in order to pay bills, in order to catch up on past due bills, in order to make those looming future bills timely. Sure, it gets hectic and cuts into my sleep when I work for three different employers (two being full-time), but it's worth it to have the financial security of a day job when needed.

And I've even culled down my loose recipes to fit all in one banker's box. Maybe that cookbook idea of mine will come to fruition this year. That would be a bonus.

So wish me luck that I land more of my preferred work and that my own writing pays bigger monthly royalties. You know, the kind with three digits or more (representing dollars, not cents). Ha!

Now I need to return to work. Have a great week, y'all!

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

I Loved Aldi's Before and Now I Love Them Even More

I love my local Aldi's. First, no pesky annual fees are involved. That would negate me from ever being a customer, as I am currently in the broke-but-happier season of my life ever since starting my freelancing career. Second, I save money, even compared to Walmart.

But now I have an additional reason. Aldi's announced yesterday, October 1, 2015, how it will remove all partially hydrogenated oils, certified synthetic colors and added MSG from its "exclusive brand food products."

All are steps in the right direction. Thank you, Aldi's!

To see the whole press release, go here: https://corporate.aldi.us/fileadmin/fm-dam/news_and_awards/Press_Release_2015/Product_Reformulation_Press_Release_FINAL.pdf

Be healthy. Live well. Go for that dream of yours. 

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

A Freelancer's Life: Menu Ideas for All "Seasons"

As a freelancer, I never know how much money is coming in this month or the next. So I have to accommodate. And, in this economy, even hourly and salaried people may be feeling the pinch as well.

Remember too that the terms rich and poor are relative. What is one man's poor season would be considered rich to another. Plus both are subject to fluctuations.

With that in mind, here are some ideas at three different levels of expense:

Po'Boy Meals

1. Ramen noodles ($2.09 for 12 or $0.174/pkg at Aldi's in the DFW area, one serving)
2. Baked potato, butter, S&P (10# at Aldi's for $1.29 w/~25 spuds per bag = $0.05/one serving, not counting butter and S&P)
3. Rice (10# at Aldi's for $5.29 or ~23.5 cups, where 1 c. = $0.225/per cup, could be 1 or 2 servings)
4. Pasta (egg noodles, $1.00 at box store, makes ~4 servings), add butter, S&P, Parmesan, as available = $0.25/serving (not counting extras)
5. Oatmeal (per Internet search: $3.47 to $4.80, whether quick cooking or original, with 30 servings each) = $0.12 to $0.16/serving
6. Eggs ($1.19 for a dozen large or $0.099/egg at Aldi's; so you could, in theory, eat ten scrambled eggs for less than a dollar)

I've had fun eating all these foods, as everything on this list was denied me at some point as I cleaned up my diet. Moreover these one-item meals allow you to easily detect allergies to food additives because these carbs (or protein when speaking of eggs) stick with you for well over three hours before you eat something else to muddy the source of your sensitivity reactions.

I've had horrible itchy eye symptoms to three products listing "natural flavorings" (instead of its true name, MSG): canned Texas-style beans, green tea in a jug and butter (weird). It had to be the butter because I put it on a baked russet potato along with S&P. I doubt the potatoes have MSG added to them; my salt lists only the one item; the ground black pepper has no list of ingredients. Thereafter, when I put olive oil on my potato in lieu of the butter, I had no such reaction.

I think the generic brand of those beans doesn't add MSG, no matter its name, so I'll not be buying the brand name for now. I'm checking out other teas to substitute for this particular one that affects me so. As for the butter, if you'll check the labels when you shop next, you may see what I saw. The unsalted kind, from two different brands, each had MSG added to them under the guise of "natural flavorings," whereas the salted versions did not.

Go figure.

In addition to the menus listed above, I would suggest buying whatever seasonal fruit is on sale, whether a 3-lb. bag of mixed apples, or like grapefruit and oranges during the winter. Same thing with produce. When you can, buy a good quality lettuce (not iceberg) or a 3-lb. bag of onions to add a little variety to the starches listed above. Summer is a great time to get four or five ears of corn for one dollar.

Note that, while I am completely off my diet eating these carbs, I only gained back five pounds eating this way, over the holiday season too. I was surprised it wasn't more. And I haven't yet resumed my daily exercise either, other than yard work (raking leaves; pruning trees damaged by our recent ice storm), to offset this. So I can see me losing the weight (again), maybe even while eating these carbs, once I reincorporate weight lifting and yoga into my daily routine.

Almost There

1. Ramen noodles (two pkgs = $0.34) with tuna ($0.65/can at Aldi's); total = $0.45 each for 2 servings
2. Baked potatoes and canned beans—although, of course, dried is cheaper, maybe fresh too ($0.05/potato + $0.49 for 1 can, 2 servings, green beans; per serving = $0.245); total = $0.295/serving
3. Rice and beans (could be ~$0.33 with canned beans per serving; less with dried beans you cook yourself)
4. Corn bread (Jiffy brand is $0.59/box online, ~3 servings) and canned collard greens (Glory Foods' seasoned greens, 27 oz., 3 huge servings or $0.496 x 3 = $1.49/can); total = $0.696/serving [Again this meal would be cheaper to buy the fresh collard greens and cook them yourself; but the canned are nice to have because their shelf life is longer than the fresh version in the refrigerator.]

With any of the above, you get to have two items together on the same plate. Almost there...

Meat!

Here's my favorite idea. Roast a meat—whether a beef roast, a whole chicken, a brisket, a pork roast; whatever you like and can afford—and eat it over the week to come. I'll use chicken as my example.

I got a wonderful whole chicken at Aldi's. Don't have the packaging any longer so have no idea what brand it was. [Note: Aldi's has brands I've never heard of before, but each one that I've tried has been great, and some are one-third the cost of what I pay for the same thing at the big box store. A quick Internet search states several are Trader Joe's brands.]

So the chicken was delicious and about $0.99/lb (4.8-pound chicken for $4.56). I seasoned it with EVOO and herbs of my choice, and then roasted it with just what I had on hand: celery and onions. 

This was the biggest chicken I had bought in a long time (and the cheapest), with four servings from the two breasts alone. Then I deboned the meat and used just the white meat to make jambalaya, with browned beef sausage, sliced, added to it. Got another 4 servings from that. After deboning, I made chicken broth from the bones, letting it simmer on the stovetop for hours. That could be used, once strained, for chicken tortilla soup. Yum!

Granted, you will be eating chicken in some form almost all week for one or two meals daily (depending on serving sizes and how many people are eating each time), but hopefully these variations will keep you from being bored with the idea of chicken yet again.

Using the dark meat, I plan to make chicken spaghetti. It's simple and calls for one can of cream of celery soup and another can of cream of chicken soup (or cream of mushroom even). Mix them together, with a little water, pour over cooked spaghetti and the leftover chicken. Mix well. Top with cheese and pop in the oven to warm all. Delish!

But I'm not purchasing canned soups and will instead thicken my homemade chicken broth with corn starch, adding chopped fresh celery (slightly cooked) along with canned mushrooms, both of which are already in my kitchen.

Even if you have just a little chicken still remaining after fixing all of the above, that small bit calls for soup. And for you to empty out your fridge. That leftover rice? Add it. Have wilted lettuce? Drop it in. Bread? Throw it in the mix. The classic French onion soup has bread atop it. Italians make a bread salad.

Don't waste anything that's still good. A bell pepper may be old enough that it won't be a good raw snack, but you can season your soup with it. Every ethnic group has a version of this, whether it's called goulash or hash or whatever. Clean out your fridge and put what you can in the soup pot.

Schedule one night of the week as potluck. Even if it is baked potatoes stuffed with cooked broccoli and the last of the cream cheese. Be inventive.

Inspiration

I'll leave you with three quotes which hopefully uplift you during the hard times.

First, from the Bible. A widow was about to lose her two sons to indentured slavery to pay off her dead husband's debts. Taken from 2 Kings 4:1–7 (KJV). Read carefully what the man of God told her in the second verse:

And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.

And he proceeded to tell her what to do. She and her sons followed his instructions, pouring the never-ending oil into additional urns or containers of all sorts procured from her neighbors. When there were no more empty pots, there was no more oil to pour (a story in itself). She then sold it all, paid the debt, and she and her sons lived off the rest.

My point is: what do you have right now? Maybe clothes that can be dropped off at the consignment shop? How about something to sell on eBay, such as movies you don't watch any longer? If it works for you and your situation, sell your car and buy a second-hand bicycle instead. Have a garage sale.

What do you have in your house? Look through the eyes of someone in a situation worse than yours. See how rich you truly are. Sell what you can. Give away some things. Be grateful for everything you do have.

Donations to your local shelter may not put money in your hand but it puts credits in your spiritual account. And God honors that.

Second, from Michael Pollan in his book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.

He showed the words chocolate cake to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. Guilt was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: celebration. 

Third, from Oprah Winfrey.

I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.

Change your thoughts and you change your life. Plus, aren't you happier when you think on the good things?

Here's to abundant happiness...

P.S. I'm not getting paid or otherwise compensated to mention any brand names herein. I just happen to like these.

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra